Top 10 Games Phones: March

It's thumbs up to these handsets for mobile gaming

| Mar 5, 2007

With two months of 2007 tucked into our back pocket like so many used bus tickets, it's time to cast an eye toward the handsets that are currently giving the Pocket Gamer team RSI.

It's been a busy old time of late with every manufacturer and their aunty trying to grab attention away from Apple and the iPhone, but we've stayed true to choose the phones that have entertained us. These then are the handsets that'll give your fiddlin' fingers the most fun.


	Sony Ericsson w550i With every month that passes, the w550i looks worse and worse. It's got a nasty orange shell (the clip-on pearlescent white one that comes in the box is much nicer), a funny loop antenna and a number pad that look as though it's made out of paper. But looks aren't everything – the compact Walkman phone, one of the original pair to launch the brand, is still our pick of the handsets when it comes to gaming. First and foremost, it's one of the few handsets available in the UK market that's specifically been designed with games in mind. Consequently, you've got a thumb-friendly directional pad on one side of the screen and two fire buttons on t'other. Combined with the nifty trick of rotating an on-screen game through 90-degrees so that it's landscape orientation, and you've got our (yet again) number one handset for games. (Read our review)

	Nokia N93 The w550i is a work of art compared to this hulk. But everyone loves an underdog, even one as knobbly as this, particularly when they're so well endowed (so to speak). The Nokia N93 is attempting to do for mobile phone video what the N70 and 73 have done for photos – to try and make it a viable option for handsets. To that end, Nokia's shoehorned in a dedicated GPU (that's Graphics Processing Unit to the rest of us), which is an electronic brain that's devoted to nowt but making stuff look nice. We'd go into more technical detail, but the short of it is this: if you want 3D games to look their absolute best, the N93 is your bowl of kibble.

	Nokia 5300 The reason that multimedia phones fare so well in the Pocket Gamer top 10 phones list, whether they be Nokia N-series handsets, Sony Ericsson Walkman models or others, like this, is because many of the demands of video and audio playback are the same. So, you get a good, crisp screen that's not averse to handling technically difficult tasks such as playing back the latest Fratellis video and speakers that don't sound like a wet fart when they're supposed to be banging out your latest download. In the case of the Nokia 5300, you also get a set of controls that are easy to live with and the assurance that comes with any phone running the Symbian Series 60 operating system, which is one of the best supported handset platforms around. (Read our review)

	Sony Ericsson K800i While Nokia's operating system is the most widely-supported, the software that enables Sony Ericsson's stable of handsets is, at a push, the second-most widely supported. And, because Sony handsets have always had a predilection for media, they've always been well supported by games publishers. Which means that it's almost impossible to buy any Sony Ericsson handset and not find pocket gaming joy easy to come by. The K800i stands here on the merits of its screen, 3D prowess and little joystick / nubbin thingummy-jig, but in many ways it also represents a number of peers such as twin sibling the k810i and the similar, but slightly smaller-screened duo of w800i and w810i. The reason a nubbin thumbstick is preferable to a D-pad? Partly personal preference, but mainly due to the fact that it's quicker and easier to change the direction you're pressing in. Try it.

	Nokia N73 The N73 is the N70 evolved, which was in turn spawned from the 6680. We still use a 6680 at Pocket Gamer towers for reviewing on, and although it harks back to the days before Nokia started sticking an 'N' in front of everything, it's a solid and reliable performer. The N73 improves on its forebears though by sporting a lovely 2.4" screen that's bright and easier on the eye than those of old (something anyone who wears glasses will appreciate). And, having been on a diet, it no longer feels like you're lugging a lead ingot around in your trouser pocket. If your monthly allowance or wage slip won't stretch to the N73 though, feel no shame in investing in one of the older models at a bargain-basement price.

	Nokia 6234 3D visuals aren't the be-all and end-all of mobile gaming, despite what the publishers and handset manufacturers might try to tell you. There are still many more 2D titles released – and will continue to be released – than 3D, and the addition of an extra D is no guarantee that a game will be any good. The reason we bang on about 3D visuals here is that they're technically more demanding of a handset's hardware than 2D visuals are, so if a model can deal with 3D with aplomb, it'll do so with the less flashy 2D games. The Nokia 6234 manages to do itself proud when it comes to the three-dee stuff and, for a 3G handset, it's relatively inexpensive, too, though multimedia widgets are correspondingly thin on the ground.

	Sony Ericsson w950i We were a bit down on the w950i when we reviewed it recently because it was a bit bulky and the controls were a tad unreliable. But it's here in our top 10 precisely because of those controls: in our humble opinion, they presage the future of the mobile phone interface. The w950i, you see, is one of the first handsets with a touch-sensitive screen, which means you can click, drag and drop objects on screen using a little stylus. It's a bit rudimentary, but as the Nintendo DS has proved, it's brilliant when used with games that support it. Those games don't really exist yet and the technology's still too young, but the Apple iPhone is just one handset on the horizon that's made the days of the keypad numbered. So don't buy to play games today, but keep an eye on it. (Read our review)

	Sony Ericsson K700i The elder statesman of the Pocket Gamer review handset stable, our trusty k700i has been doing the rounds for more than three years now and is still going strong. If that wasn't testament enough to its qualities, consider this: it's essentially the same handset beneath the skin as the Sony Ericsson model(s) found at number 4, save for a few aesthetic and media-player tweaks. That means it can play the latest 3D games, even those from perennial third-dimension stalwarts Fishlabs, and has an incredibly wide support base among all the developers. It's also dirt cheap, comparatively speaking, with PAYG examples going for less than £100 on the high street. (Read our review)

	Nokia 5500 Sport Sporty by name, sporty by nature. Almost, because Nokia's latest Series 60 handset is sporty in the same way that a Range Rover is an off-road car. Granted, if pushed it could make its way across a field, but it's unlikely to face anything more challenging than a car park speed-bump. It's a similar situation with the 5500 Sport, which is clad in stainless steel and rubber and likely to be bought by the sort of people who think Nike make dress shoes. But image problems aside, it's a slinky contender and is one of the smallest Series 60 handsets on the market. The only reason it's stuck at number nine is its screen, a diminutive 1" square affair. (Read our review)

	Nokia N-Gage QD Okay, this is partly a sentimental carry-over from our earlier top 10 lists but not entirely: the N-Gage QD is still a strong performer, despite running on a version of the Symbian Series 60 operating system that means that 3D Java (J2ME) games won't work on it. But it's a small price to pay for the N-Gage games that are unique to the handset, with Pathway To Glory, a turn-based World War 2 strategy game, being a bona fide classic game that we love playing to this very day. Remember, you can grab an N-Gage QD handset for around £30 on eBay and games cost no more than you'd pay for a download from your network operator. In short, top-flight gaming for mere pennies. (Read our review)